As the City Council comes together for its weekly 3:30 p.m. Monday meeting, another weekly gathering transpires right outside of the doors of the City and County of Denver building.

No matter the weather, “Mutual Aid Monday” volunteers show up every week to serve food and offer resources to homeless people and immigrants.

They provide food, water, tents, power stations, propane and personal hygiene products.

And a hair cut. 

Mutual Aid Monday said the act serves a dual purpose — help people and highlight the city’s top issues right in front of city hall.

“Our reason to be here is to have a visible presence in front of the city government,” said organizer Kimberly Miller. “Issues often arise in City Council that affect the unhoused and we want them to have easy access to go in and testify.”

Amy Beck, a local advocate, said Mutual Aid Monday is a “symbolic protest,” minus the signs and disruptions.

“There is a reason it takes place in front of the City and County Building, in front of the mayor’s office and the City Council members every Monday during City Council,” she said. “That’s not by accident.”

Denver is grappling with the twin crises of homelessness and illegal immigration — at staggering costs. The city spent $45 million last year on Johnston’s campaign to move 1,000 homeless people indoors, which translates to roughly $45,000 per homeless person. Denver plans to earmark another $50 million to house 1,000 more homeless people this year.

All told, the city allocated roughly $250 million year in 2023 and 2024 to homelessness and housing initiatives.

And, over the past 15 months, the city has welcomed nearly 40,000 immigrants — mostly from South and Central America who arrived in Denver after crossing the southern border illegally — at a cost of $51 million, the bulk of which is borne by Denver taxpayers. Johnston estimated that the crisis might cost the city $120 million this year.   

Approximately 300 to 400 homeless people and immigrants come to Mutual Aid Monday each week, according to Kelsang Viyra, a Buddhist nun who typically comes to provide cigarettes, water and fuel and who is present at almost every homeless encampment clearing.

Viyra, who founded Mutual Aid Monday, said the food and resource drive has never missed a week in three years.

Mutual Aid Monday began with the intent to get “whatever the unhoused need to live through the night,” Viyra said.

The event is also meant to “have a place for the unhoused to meet, have community, and empower the unhoused to be able to go into City Council and talk to them about what their life is like.”

John Hughes — a homeless man who claims to have once been a millionaire, prisoner, homeowner and being pronounced dead after an attack — was scraping for resources during this week’s Mutual Aid Monday.

Hughes said he sees Mutual Aid Monday as a stark reminder of the crisis.

“All we want is a little bit of what we’re supposed to be given, which is freedom,” he said. “We live in a free country. Let us have the freedom.”

Hughes, one the 1,300 homeless people who were moved indoors under Johnston’s initiative, resides in the former Best Western hotel, which has been turned into temporary housing.

“They leave me alone,” said Hughes. “You can’t say anything more than that because that’s what a lot of these homeless people want. They just want to have some shelter and be left alone.”

Ashley Garrett, a homeless woman who recently found housing because of her child, said Denver is “not safe” and is a “biohazard” for homeless people scattered across the city.

“We need to come together and make change,” she said. “Because working for money is not going to make it.”

A group of Creighton University students who drove from Omaha, Nebraska served homeless people food on Monday.

“It makes me feel good to be able to help out, but, I also got to acknowledge that this isn’t enough,” said volunteer Hridya Nair.

“We need to make more systemic changes to ensure people are off the streets. And if they’re addicts, we need to make sure they get to go to rehab,” the college student said. “We need to reduce the judgment around homeless people, and lower rent in places like this.”